Introduction

Today's Internet users demand faster and faster download times for dynamic Web content and enterprise applications. The “eight second” rule no longer applies in today's Internet marketplace. As the demand for more and more content at accelerated speeds continues to grow, businesses are forced to find ways of being able to meet this rising demand. The initial industry response was to purchase more servers, firewalls, routers, caching devices, switches and point acceleration appliances. This attempted solution only succeeded in shifting network bottlenecks while increasing cost and complexity in the network. In typical data centers, URL requests must travel a path through several appliances, supplied by numerous vendors, to access desired data.

Figure 1: Typical Data Center Web Architecture

To decrease download times for end users and provide a high performance, highly secure foundation for Web-enabled content and applications, networking functions need to be streamlined. Increasing the physical number of point product hardware appliances has proven ineffective.